Pros:

Cons:

The faint whiff of pretension lurking about the title of this European RPG isn't an accident. Of Orcs and Men bears at least a passing resemblance to John Steinbeck's famous tale of Depression-era misery in America, with a lumbering powerhouse of an orc named Arkail standing in for simple-minded Lennie and a roguish goblin named Styx in the role of George Milton. As in Of Mice and Men, this is a tale of outsiders carving their way in a world that spurns them, and while Arkail and Styx may not be heroes in the traditional sense, developers Cyanide and Spiders make it hard not to sympathize with their plight. And lest you worry that several hours of humdrum moralizing await you: fear not, there will be blood. Buckets and buckets of it.

Tell me about the rabbits, George!

If anything, combat's more hardcore than BioWare's games.

But this isn't some mindless hack 'n' slash. Of Orcs and Men's combat owes a heavy debt to BioWare's model in games like Dragon Age: Origins and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, in that you'll spend your time paused and thoughtfully queuing four successive abilities for two characters rather than mashing buttons. If anything, it's more hardcore than BioWare's games. Arkail and Styx aren't too bright or effective when left to their own devices (perhap by design), so I saw great benefits from constantly juggling between the two and their widely different abilities, made manageable by the way time slows down to a crawl when you press the spacebar. It works because the two green-skinned protagonists are so different -- Arkail is a category 5 tornado of steel and leather that smacks down humans with brutal efficiency, an Styx is a tiny, pestering gadfly that does his best damage from afar.

Anger Management

It's the little quirks native to each character that make the fights so worthwhile. Queue up too many of Arkail's offensive abilities in a row, for instance, and he'll explode into a murderous (and uncontrollable) rage that puts even Styx in danger. It's more than a gimmick; use it too early, and you'll likely kill Styx and leave Arkail himself open for a beatdown while he cools down after his tantrum; time it right, and you can slam your way out of a harrowing combat situation that might've looked hopeless. Small and lithe, Styx has different tricks. Apart from his ranged abilities, he can stealth his way past most guards, allowing him to clear most threats before calling Arkail in to join to fun. Learning how to use this technique is essential to success, as barging in with every guard still standing is a sure recipe for death in most encounters. Of Orcs and Men wastes no time in throwing you into challenges normally saved for a game's advanced hours, and thus it's best to put careful thought into the abilities you queue.

Hulk smash!

The maps' linearity could put the path of a crossbow bolt to shame and that new gear's rare enough that you sometimes forget that it exists.

The problem is that each level follows this formula so uniformly that it's easy to fall into a slog of using the same sequence of abilities for almost every pull. The option of which skill to unlock for each hero as you level helps stave off the monotony (especially since some skills focus on two-character combos), but it's a simple system that may disappoint players seeker deeper gameplay. It doesn't help that the maps' linearity could put the path of a crossbow bolt to shame and that new gear's rare enough that you sometimes forget that it exists, or that most soldiers stand around as if waiting for Styx to stick one of his daggers in their backs. The few nods to variation usually involve Styx making his way through holes that the hulk-sized Arkail couldn't hope to fit into, and they often seem forced at best. I also occasionally hit experience-spoiling bugs, especially one that leaves Arkail or Styx just standing there no matter how many commands you queue, but they do tend to be rare.

Turning The Tables

About that story. Of Orcs and Men prides itself on its bold decision to make orcs the good guys and humans the bad guys (although the Warcraft franchise arguably toyed with that idea for years), and the resulting story of slavery and race revenge was riveting enough to leave me wanting to see this roughly 15 hour journey through to its end. It's a little heavy-handed, and the script reads as though someone watched a Tarantino marathon and walked away with the impression that saying "f**k" a lot is the most essential ingredient for narrative perfection, but it thrives on the strength of its characterization, particularly that of Styx. Arkail's a likeable enough fellow despite his "me-smash-'em" mentality, but Styx delivers some of the best one-liners I've heard in a game lately, and his voice actor perfectly captures the annoyed cadences of a little guy who's not used to leading a freighter around on a leash. It's a shame that the rest of the voice acting isn't quite up to par; as it is, Styx hogs the show. Even his story interested me more than the predictable scenario of evil humans enslaving the brutish orcs, as Styx is apparently the world's only goblin that can speak and think intelligently.

You'd have to try really hard to get lost in maps like this.

Of Orcs and Men comes into its own with Olivier Deriviere's haunting cello themes, which imbues the entire experience with a moral weight.

All this takes place against a backdrop that achieves beauty at times, with both its characters and its scenery. It's worth noting that both Styx and his Matterhorn-sized friend look like supermodels beside the humans, whose ugliness reflects either the darkness of their slave-driving souls or (more likely) poor character design. Elsewhere, textures and objects sometimes overlap where they shouldn't, and facial animations sometimes verge on the grotesque. Yet Of Orcs and Men comes into its own with Olivier Deriviere's haunting cello themes, which imbues the entire experience with a moral weight that would remain hidden with a more predictable focus on war drums and triumphant brass. Combine its visual and audio strengths with the bro-like banter that grows between Arkail and Styx as the narrative progresses, and you'll find that Of Orcs and Men does much to atone for the sins of Cyanide's disappointing Game of Thrones RPG.

The Japes of Wrath

Keep in mind that this isn't an everyman's game -- its linear levels, the absence of bundles of loot, and even the quirks of its combat whittle down its potential audience -- but there's a lot to love about how this RPG sings the glories of the underdogs. For all of its blood and gore, it's a tale of dreams and friendship and hope and loss, and somehow, if only briefly, it thus manages to capture something of the same poignancy of the Steinbeck's parable of two misfits wandering about a broken world.

Well, since BioWare can't be bothered to make BioWare-style RPGs anymore, I'm glad to see someone picking it up and running with it. Who knows? Maybe the next one won't be so linear.